‘Extremely Weak’: A Pro-Brexit Bastion Takes Dim View of May’s Deal

In the town of Stoke-on-Trent, many residents see the prime minister’s compromise arrangement for leaving the EU as a betrayal of the 2016 ‘yes’ vote

The U.K. is set to leave the European Union in March 2019. But despite more than two years of negotiations, they still can't agree on the terms of their separation. The WSJ explains the key sticking points ahead of a set of crucial negotiations. Image: Reuters

STOKE-ON-TRENT, England—In June 2016, nearly 70% of residents in this town in the English Midlands voted for the U.K. to end its membership in the European Union, making their post-industrial town a bastion of anti-EU sentiment.

So-called Leavers dreamed of a bright new day for Britain. Brexit would help curtail the flow of new arrivals from elsewhere in Europe, they felt, and liberate the country from a Brussels bureaucracy they viewed as obtuse and meddling. The government would be free to strike new trade deals that would...